TURKISH PRESS REVIEW

THURSDAY JULY 4, 1996

Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning

A big July 4 reception given by the US Embassy in the residence
grounds included a large number of guests from the diplomatic
world, the press, political circles and leading figures from the
trade and commercial sectors.

In a rather nice diplomatic gesture, a small group of musicians
opened up the reception by playing both the Turkish and US
national anthems, and continued with selections of Turkish music.
Despite the wide diversity of guests, the main topic of
conversation was the up-coming vote of confidence for the new
RP-DYP coalition government. /All papers/

Reports from Washington suggest that in general terms the US
administration is "happy" about the new government coalition
being put together by Welfare Party leader Necmettin Erbakan.
Many US government officials appear to think that the RP-DYP
coalition will get a vote of confidence this coming Monday.

The call from Erbakan in his first message to the US for
"dialogue and cooperation" has gone down well. The appearance of
Prime Minister Erbakan at the US Embassy July 4 reception given
by ambassador Marc Grossman has been taken as a "positive signal"
that all is well between the US and Turkish sides. /All papers/

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller will not
attend the conference of Balkan foreign ministers in Sofia this
weekend because of the vote of confidence in the new government.
Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ambassador Onur Oymen will
represent Turkey at the conference. The Balkan conference was
originally scheduled to coincide with the Habitat II conference
in Istanbul, but was postponed at Turkey's request until this
weekend. /Cumhuriyet/

Han Sung-Joo, Cyprus special representative of the UN secretary
general, in Ankara yesterday after his visit to Cyprus, received
five messages from the Turkish Foreign Ministry. A senior
diplomat from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Ankara's
first message to Han Sung-Joo was to fulfill his mission. "The US
and Britain also want to play a role in the Cyprus question. At
the G7 meeting, President Clinton and British Prime Minister
Major decided to coordinate their efforts on the Cyprus question.
But for us, the UN goodwill mission has priority" he said. He
pointed out that Ankara had also given a second message about
Turkey's rights as guarantor on Cyprus. He said that Ankara would
never bargain on these guarantor rights. The third message from
Ankara to the Cyprus special representative concerned the arming
of Greek Cypriots. "We said that we were uncomfortable with the
arming of Greek Cypriots. We cannot tolerate that" the same
senior diplomat said. The fourth message was: "Initiate
negotiations between the sides in Cyprus without any
preconditions". And the fifth was: "Do not let the process of
Greek Cypriot EU membership replace the UN process".

Han Sung-Joo met Deputy Undersecretary Inal Batu and
Undersecretary Onur Oymen yesterday. Han, before starting his
meetings, told reporters that he had not brought a package for
the solution of the Cyprus problem.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omer Akbel, in his
weekly press briefing, said Turkey's aim was to find a
comprehensive and permanent solution to the Cyprus problem. "The
parameters of this solution are clear: bi-communal, bi-zonal,
under the active guarantee of Turkey, a federal structure would
be reached through free talks between the two societies. We would
like to emphasize that the real discussion process aiming to find
a solution to the Cyprus problem is the UN goodwill mission. We
do not foresee opening any other discussion processes" Akbel
said. /Milliyet-Cumhuriyet/

Chief of General Staff Ismail Hakki Karadayi said that Turkey has
no intention of invading any other country's territoty but would
defend its own borders. Yesterday, the Turkish military leader
completed a three-day visit to Bulgaria where he met government
and army officials to discuss military cooperation between the
two countries. After visiting a military installation at Filibe,
Karadayi travelled on to Romania for a two-day visit.

Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring, whose country has taken over
the EU term presidency from Italy, will pay a visit to Greece
next week to ask Greek officials to lift the veto on EU aid to
Turkey. Spring told a press conference he was hopeful that
Turkey, a member of the customs union, would receive the $470
million aid in the near future. "We would like to strengthen
relations between Turkey and the EU" said Spring, who pointed out
the strategic importance of Turkey.

Spring also expressed his content over the peaceful elections
held in Mostar, adding that he would pay a visit to Bosnia to
make a decision on ending the EU role in the region. However, he
said that it was too early to comment on when Ricardo Perez
Casado, the EU administrator in Bosnia, would depart from office.
/All papers/

Bosnian refugees will vote in Turkey in the September 14 Bosnian
elections. Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omer Akbel said at
a weekly press conference that it was very important to enable
Bosnian refugees to vote. He said that the Anatolia Progress
Foundation, an independent establishment, would take all the
necessary measures to facilitate the voting in Turkey. "Turkey
believes that permanent peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina depends on
free elections as indicated in the peace agreements" Akbel said.
/All papers/

In the Cicekli village of Tunceli yesterday, separatist
terrorists killed four soldiers and wounded three in an ambush
when the terrorists fired a rocket at a military vehicle on its
way to an anti-terrorist operation. The three wounded soldiers
were sent to the Tunceli state hospital. The Army has started a
military operation in the area. Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan
sent a condolence message to Chief of General Staff Ismail Hakki
Karadayi in which he condemned the armed attack by the
terrorists. Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Kalemli also sent
a condolence message to Karadayi. /Sabah-Hurriyet/

A 98-person delegation from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce
(ICC) has visited Bosnia-Herzegovina to check the appropriateness
of the area for new investments. The chairman and the board of
directors of the chamber visited the deputy chairman of the
Bosnian Muslim-Croat Federation, Eyup Ganic. In the meeting
Ganic said that there were still certain risks but that the
Turkish side was expected to make investments in Bosnia. Ganic
added: "There are numerous economic opportunities in Bosnia.
Besides, Bosnia has strong relations with the US, Germany and
Austria in terms of economic investments that will also help the
restructuring of Bosnia". He said that the political problems
could only be solved by concentrating on solving the economic
problems.

Chairman of ICC, Mehmet Yildirim, who met with Ganic yesterday,
said that they were ready to help Bosnia. According to Yildirim,
the ICC has begun to provide information to all its members in
order to encourage them to invest in Bosnia. He also said that
there were many Bosnians among the ICC members as well. /Sabah/

The Export-Import Bank of Japan said it signed an agreement
yesterday on a loan of $410 million to the Republic of Turkey to
build what will be the country's largest thermal power plant. The
bank said it would be providing 60 % of the total, or $246
million. It said the remainder would be co-financed by eight
private Japanese banks, including the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.
The equipment will be installed in a 1400 MW thermal power plant
to be built in the suburb of Turkey's Bursa city. The power plant
will enable the Turkish Electricity Generation Transmission
Corporation to meet the growing power demand stimulated by
Turkey's economic recovery. It will be fuelled by natural gas.

Now a Mitsubishi-Enka deal can go through for the project which
will be started off on July 9, when Prime Minister Necmettin
Erbakan attends a ground breaking ceremony at the Bursa site.
/All papers/

According to research undertaken by the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), Turkey turned out to be the
cheapest country among the 20 countries included in the report.
OECD representatives note that goods at a cost of DM 129 in
Switzerland, could be purchased for DM 100 in Germany and DM 38
in Turkey. /Hurriyet/

Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Director for
Economic Development and Planning, Nobuhirg Koyama, said that the
agency was preparing a plan for development cooperation between
Turkey and Japan, and added that the implementation of the plan
would begin in 1997. JICA is an organization aiming to support
the development of cultural and human resources in developing
countries. The agency is also planning to undertake investments
in eastern Anatolia. /Cumhuriyet/

The archaeological excavations which were started in 1986 at
Kalehoyuk, Kirsehir, by Japanese Prince Takahito Mikasa are being
carried on by Japanese archaeologists, the Anatolia news agency
reported. Seventeen archaeologists and around 100 workers are
employed at the excavation led by Sachiro Omuram. The excavations
are expected to continue for 10 more years.